I found this hugely useful for character creation as it contains A LOT of comprehensive descriptions for flaws and advantages. There are more flaws than advantages but I still found it very helpful. I converted it over to FUDGE for the campaign I am running.

I bought the The Book of Distinctions & Drawbacks standard edition as well, which I use in my fantasy campaigns.

This product is hugely useful for character creation and A LOT of comprehensive descriptions. There are more flaws than advantages but I still found it very helpful as I converted it over to FUDGE for the campaign I am running.

I bought the The Book of Distinctions & Drawbacks Modern edition as well.

For the content and breadth, it can't be beat and I have yet to find another good source for character creation "merits and flaws."

I absolutly enjoyed this product. The level of depth it helps to add to characters is amazing. Now instead of just saying that your character is a prince(ss) in exile, you can purchese the title, the right to the land, and even extra gold. Naturally, in return for these benefits the character will have some difficulties, but that just makes the game more fun.<br><br>
<b>LIKED</b>: The absolute variety of options. While this product does tend towards making very strong characters, as long as the GM sets guidelines there should be no complications.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: The only real downside is the increased time it will now take to make a character. There are so many options that it is hard to choose just the right ones.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

Reviewed this once on ENWorld - review is gone, now though. In short - the best, most complete merit/flaw system for d20 I've seen. The new version is more concrete in how it is supposed to be used and lends itself a bit more to min/maxing in the "standard" mode, but still just as useable as before. And as before, more Taints please!<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A very useful supplement, however as with any merit/flaw system (especially a "tacted on system" abuse possibilities abound. Police the use of this product carefully . . . don't let the players run amok min maxing PC's.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Satisfied<br>

d20 has some great ideas. Classes that act as a sort of archetype of character development, feats so that you can have more options as to more refined development, and quite a few prestige classes (or, in this case, advanced classes) to fill even more specific niches.

There is one thing that all of the above lacks, though, and that is the actual character in the character. And that is where this book comes in. Now you can get some drawbacks (which tells you what your character can't do) and distinctions (which are little perks, but you can get extra feats, which I do highly suggest).

Many gamers feel that taking a drawback is somehow making their character weaker. In a sense that is true. However it has two benefits: one, you get a distinction of similar value, and two, you have made your character distinct from all of the others. You have something fun to role-play.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Drawbacks! They are great. Take a flaw and your character will no longer be a flimsy cardboard cutout.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: I found many of the distinctions to be lame. I just go for an extra feat, because all of the rest seems to be useless (to me, anyway).<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

A great addition to Deeds Not Words. It starts with about 14 pages of feats, about 14 pages of weapons and armor (including quite a lot of improvised weapons), about 6 pages of combat rules, and about 60 pages of NPCs and setting data.<br><br><b>LIKED</b>: Can you say options? I like how it has a lot of combat options. When you have superheroes beating each other up, the more options the better. Hit locations are handled quite well.<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: It has a bunch of NPCs in it. Granted, this is considered a virtue for most people, but I would rather it had more rules and crunchy-stuff.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Excellent<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>

This book is of great use to those DMs and Players that wish to add some "personality" to their characters to distinguish them more from the stock core classes and prestige classes.

I find the book fairly well balanced and the drawbacks are all very good in making sure that the players REALLY want to do what they think they want to do. They all have the potential to be quite burdensome to the character and not something I think anyone would jump into without due and careful thought.

Those of you in roll-playing campaigns will find this book to be of much less value. Those of you in role-playing campaigns may find this book to be a great deal of fun.

The one thing I need to do is cross-reference the content of this book with the WotC Unearthed Arcana list.

I recommend this book over another here at RPGnow: Distinctions & Demerits.

<br><br><b>DISLIKED</b>: Stayed away from purely role-playing drawbacks, but this would be a plus to almost everyone else.<br><br><b>QUALITY</b>: Very Good<br><br><b>VALUE</b>: Very Satisfied<br>